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something that hasen't been mentioned is the entry. If the vertical dive is truly vertical the wings will enter the trick level. If not its out of shape right out of the gate.. This is a good case for longer lines when learning this trick. Gives you more time to line things up.

Because winds are never steady (at least wherever I've flown ) it is really hard to get them to go for long without corrective measures.A straight entry and keeping your lines perfectly even does help a lot. To get more than just a few repetitions, you will need to figure out how to right it when it becomes a bit skewed. This is done by really small movements throughout. It is really hard for me to explain, maybe someone else can explain this better.I recommend just experimenting with location, direction, and intensity of corrective input. Eventually you will figure it out. Figuring out how to do this sort of thing is half the fun

For fun, go the wrong way on purpose and see what happens. By making your adjustments so that each repetition makes it lean further to one direction, you can get to where you're doing a flic-flac sideways. The kite will drop pretty fast, since there's very little lifting surface left when it gets to 90 degrees, but it's kind of trippy looking. Exiting with a sideways 540 is one of those "what the heck was that?" moments.

It was mentioned above, but if your flic-flacs are consistently going off to the same side, check your line lengths. I did a few months ago after trying to get flic-flacs for a little while and found them an inch out. It was much easier after I corrected this. My flic-flacs still go off all over the place, so both my lines must be the wrong length

Something else I read or saw somewhere on correction, is to try to get the spine vertical between the fade and the flare - maybe it's more instinctive to correct through this position, as the kite is effectively in flying position (albeit nose down).

1. Don't practice with bad technique or in crap winds and end up training your brain to not do them well. This goes for all tricks.

2. Relax

3. Practice in the lightest winds you can manage to fly in.

4. Break the trick down and practice the individual elements.

A. Get good at fades. Lay your kite nose away, face down. GENTLY and I mean gently pull back and pull the kite into a fade. No popping, No snapping, no forcefulness. See how lightly you can do it and more up to more aggressive. This is the exact same move you're going to be doing in the air to pull the kite from nose away into a fade. Nice and gentle, nice and smooth. Relax.

B. Practice down wind glides until you think you're good and then practice more. Developing good nose away control is key for flic flacs and many other tricks. Trust me on this one. Seems so simple and everyone thinks they can do it but can't really.

If you can control your kite nose away, you can pull it into a fade without panicking or using too much force.

Avoid letting the kite go too nose high when you flare (nose away) Fly into the flare, don't bang into it. Decelerate into a nice clean nose away position.

Gently pull into the fade just like you practiced on the ground. Exact same move. If you go smooth and gentle, the kite won't bang into the lines and get out of control in the fade.

One of the most key elements, especially in light winds is to let the nose rise in the fade before letting it out into the flare. Remember, up to go down. There doesn't need to be any popping nonsense or running around.

Start out with minimal inputs and work up to ultra aggressive not the other away around.

When I was first learning them the one tip I got that really helped was:

Set the fade before you continue, then flic out, set the fade, then flic out, etc. by hoding the fade you can get some rise which helps, what happens with flic/flacs near the ground unless in you are in very low winds ... OOOUUUCCCHHH.

Since this thread is about FlicFlac, I would like to ask about the Fade..

So far i can get into a fade from the ground, the the kite nose away, belly down; or from a flare into a fade.. and here is the problem...

Once the kite goes into the fade (kite already horizontal), often than not it suddenly dives down into the ground and not maintaining the fade position. What am i doing wrong? Am i giving it too much tension too prematurely?

The holding of a fade is what often separates the good ones from the hacks. It's difficult for everyone at first.

Simple rules, but harder to impliment in the beginning:

1. Nose falls, give even slack.2. Nose rises, give tension.

As you maintain the fade, the closer these values +/- remain to zero (neither tension nor slack), the better. Holding the fade is an ULTRA subtle art. When you get better, play with uneven slack and tension to see how the fade responds, and what possibilities this opens (like initiating backspins, for example).

That being said, another good place to put some of your practice energy is into the 'fractured axel to fade' manuever. Getting to the fade from a flare is a first step, but in the end, pretty useless once you master the FAtoF.

obi

Logged

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." L daVinci

If the kite is suddenly powering up out of a Fade you have too much tension on the lines. Holding a Fade, especially in uneven winds, requires lots of adjustments. Don't get too aggressive adjusting while in the Fade, be gentle / smooth with the inputs and watch the kite.

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